The Journey of a Legend

1904

On March 9, audio legend Paul W Klipsch (PWK) is born in Elkhart, Indiana. As it turns out, he will be the only child of Oscar Colman Klipsch and Minna Pearl Eddy.

1930

While working in Chile, South America maintaining electric locomotives, Paul W. Klipsch continues his amateur radio passion. While comparing horn to cone-type radio speakers, he discovers the superior efficiency of horns.

1934

In graduate school at Stanford University, one of Paul W. Klipsch’s classmates mentions to him that speakers sound better in a corner.

1938

Using the ideas that horn speakers are more efficient and that they sound better in a corner, Paul W. Klipsch develops a crude prototype of the Klipschorn®.

1945

Paul W. Klipsch receives a patent on his Klipschorn speaker design and essentially helps kick off the Hi-Fi era.

1946

At age 42 and initiating his fifth career, Paul W. Klipsch registers the name Klipsch & Associates and begins selling his Klipschorn speakers out of a tin shed in Hope, Arkansas. A local cabinetmaker and the Baldwin Piano Company assist Paul in building his first 20 Klipschorn speakers.

1948

Paul W. Klipsch acquires his first factory building, formerly the telephone exchange building for the Southwest Proving Grounds in Hope, Arkansas, and hires his first employee, cabinetmaker Lloyd McClellan. The first Klipschorn built here is numbered 121. Today, the original factory is the Klipsch Museum.

1957

Paul W. Klipsch introduces his experimental Heresy speaker, effectively the world’s first commercial center channel speaker. A year later, it is demonstrated at the World’s Fair in Brussels, Belgium.

1963

Paul Klipsch designs the La Scala speaker for the performing arts sector. Arkansas gubernatorial candidate Winthrop Rockefeller later uses it as a public address speaker.

1977

Klipsch & Associates beefs up its professional speaker line with the 500-pound MCM speaker. Designed for touring sound and cinema applications, the MCM delivers enough power to rock the house down.

1978

1980

While it’s possible that cinemas used the Klipschorn in the early 50s to wow audiences, Klipsch formally gets into the professional theater business after selling an MCM system to John Allen. In fact, Allen established the first ever “digital” audio presentation of a soundtrack using Klipsch speakers.

1983

Paul W. Klipsch is inducted into the Audio Hall of Fame.

1989

At age 85, Paul W. Klipsch sells Klipsch & Associates to second cousin and Indianapolis businessman Fred S. Klipsch and his wife Judy. While manufacturing remains in Hope, Arkansas, business operations move to Indianapolis, Indiana. The company is re-named Klipsch, Inc.

1992

Klipsch begins supplying the residential contracting market with two in-wall speakers – the IW 100 and IW 200. The Academy center channel speaker is introduced, representing the company’s first center channel speaker designed specifically for use in home theater surround sound applications.

1993

With 5.1 home theater surround sound gaining more momentum, Klipsch begins building its audio portfolio with the introduction of its first powered subwoofer line.

1995

In honor of Paul W. Klipsch’s achievements, New Mexico State University (PWK received his Bachelor of Science degree from NMSU in 1926) renames its engineering department the Klipsch School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

1996

1997

Paul W. Klipsch is inducted into the Engineering and Science Hall of Fame, an honor shared by Thomas Edison, George Washington Carver and the Wright brothers. The Engineering and Science Hall of Fame recognizes those who have improved the quality of the human condition through an individual contribution using engineering and scientific principles.

Klipsch also introduces its Synergy Series with monitor and tower product lines.

1998

Replacing the 1996 Rebel system, Klipsch introduces the Quintet to meet consumer demand for an even smaller, space-saving speaker package.

1999

Klipsch introduces the first computer speaker system in the world to be THX®-Certified. At $249, the ProMedia v.2-400 forever changes the way people think about multimedia speakers. The first generation of Reference Series speakers is introduced to the market.

2000

Klipsch moves into its current headquarters location on the northwest side of Indianapolis. Also, the company is re-named Klipsch Audio Technologies. Fred S. Klipsch is named Indiana Heartland's Ernst & Young 2000 Entrepreneur Of The Year® in the manufacturing category.

2001

Klipsch breaks ground on the Engineering and Technology Center, one of the Midwest’s most advanced audio research facilities, boasting two anechoic chambers, digital electronics workstations, an engineering model shop and an industrial design lab.

2002

On May 5, at the age of 98, audio legend Paul W. Klipsch dies. Throughout his lifetime, this relentless perfectionist earned 23 patents.

2004

At the 2004 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Paul W. Klipsch is inducted into the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame, which was established in 2000 by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) to honor the leaders whose creativity, persistence and determination helped shape the consumer electronics industry.

2005

Klipsch enters the iPod® accessories space with the iFi, the first iPod-dockable home stereo system on the market. Klipsch acquires Danish brand Jamo to accelerate global growth.

2006

Fred S. Klipsch is inducted into Junior Achievement’s Central Indiana Business Hall of Fame. In August, the company acquires Audio Products International (API), makers of the Mirage®, Energy® and Athena® speaker brands. The Arkansas Institute for Performance Excellence (AIPE) selects Klipsch’s Hope, Arkansas-based manufacturing facility for a 2006 Commitment Award. Best Buy honors Klipsch with a Bravo Award for being its Vendor Partner of the Year in the Audio Video Division.

2007

While Fred S. Klipsch receives an honorary doctor of technology degree from Purdue University, the company enters several new product categories including headphones and high-end. Image and Custom are marketed as the industry’s most comfortable, highest performing headphones. Image X10 is also recognized for being the world’s smallest, lightest in-ear headphone design.

Klipsch receives a patent for its skew horn design (#7,275,621), a technology that’s featured in the R-5650-S and KS-7800-THX in-wall speakers. Introduced at the IFA show in Berlin, Germany, the luxurious Palladium P-39f floorstanding speaker, at $20,000 a pair, represents the pinnacle of modern-day horn-loaded technology and craftsmanship.

For the second year in a row, Best Buy honors Klipsch with a Bravo Award for being its Vendor Partner of the Year in the Audio Video Division.

2008

In January, while the Image X10 headphones and Icon Series XF-48 floorstander receive 2008 CES Innovations Awards, the company unveils the custom Klipsch bike, built by Klipsch and Orange County Choppers™, during CES at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. Later in the year, Klipsch speakers are installed in the new OCC headquarters in Newburgh, N.Y.

In April, Klipsch partners with six select retailers on selling its Reference Series speakers online for the very first time.

In July, the entire seven-model, high-end Palladium Series becomes available worldwide, while the KL-7502-THX in-ceiling speaker scores a 2008 Product of the Year Award from Electronic House magazine.

2009

In May, Klipsch introduces the Image S4 headphones. At the time, it is one of the most successful product launches in company history.

In August, Klipsch takes its headphone business a step further, introducing the Image S4i and S2m headsets. The S4i was deemed the first third-party headset to offer full control of the iPhone 3GS, iPod touch and iPod music and video content.

Klipsch introduces the fourth generation Quintet, an 11-year-old product that continues to be the company’s best-selling surround-sound system of all time.

In September, Fred and Judy Klipsch celebrate 20 years of owning the company.

2010

The Image S4i also receives a 2010 CES Innovations Award, while Maximum PC puts the ProMedia 2.1 Wireless on its “Best of the Best” list.

2011

Klipsch Group, Inc. is purchased and becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of Audiovox Corporation (NASDAQ: VOXX). Soon after, Fred. S. Klipsch transitions to a board member of Audiovox and Paul Jacobs is appointed CEO of Klipsch.

Jamo product design and engineering relocates to the company’s Indianapolis headquarters, while Klipsch Group Europe establishes new headquarters in Paris, France.